Edible Wild Delicacies and Delights By Monica Capovilla, Executive Director, Wintergreen Studios, Limestone Chapter
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s the world sheltered in place in the spring of 2020, we began to devote more time to our gardens, both cultivated and wild. We planned more native plantings for our bees and paid more attention to the forageable wild food that was right under our noses. One of the few good things to come out of a global pandemic is that it invited us to slow down, take a breath, and explore that which grows around us—and take it into our kitchen to create delicious gourmet meals. The 100-mile diet? More like 100 feet! There was a time when we would see dandelions peeking between the stones on the Lodge porch at Wintergreen Studios and think, “weeds!” but now we think, “lunch!”. Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), also known as blowball, wet-a-bed, Irish daisy, or wild endive, is a flowering perennial plant that likely evolved over 30 million years ago. They are native to Eurasia and widespread throughout temperate North America, growing in fields and places with disturbed soil. Their seeds are wind dispersed and they germinate easily, making them a prolific food source! Not only are dandelions an incredibly vital early spring nectar source for pollinators, including the honey bees found in the 9th Meadow Apiary at Wintergreen, but they are also packed full of nutrients—they can just be as nutritious as more commonly known leafy greens like spinach and kale. Dandelion greens contain high amounts of vitamins A, C, and K, and moderate sources of calcium, potassium, iron, and manganese. All of that, free for the foraging, in our backyards! Though they are commonly considered an invasive species and can be annoyingly pervasive (if we had a nickel for every time we have seen people weeding dandelions from their front lawns, we would be rich!), the entire plant is edible. The leaves, the flowers, the stems, the roots. The leaves (young leaves are preferable to avoid bitterness) and stems are delicious sautéed or added to soups, the roots can be roasted and ground as a coffee substitute (in flavour), the flowers can be eaten raw (rinsed well) and tossed into salads for a pop of colour and surprising sweetness, or the petals can be used to make wine or infused vinegar, among other things. Our favourite? Both the leaves and flowers added alongside cheddar cheese, heavy cream, eggs, and cherry tomatoes in a Latvian-inspired Dandelion 32
Flower Omelette. Top it off with a little bit of Garlic Mustard Pesto and you have got your yourself an incredibly tasty and hearty breakfast.
Dandelion flower omelette
“Wait… garlic mustard pesto? That is, uh, unusual.” Perhaps. But is it delicious and easily sourced? You bet! The idea of consuming garlic mustard, known to be aggressively invasive, may sound strange but trust us—once you learn more about its nutritional benefits (and tasted its fresh, garlicky notes), you will be wishing it was spring. Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata), also known as hedge garlic, Jack by the hedge, or poor man’s garlic, is an extremely hardy biennial flowering plant native to Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. It was brought to North America in the early 1800s by European settlers who used it for food and medicine. The entire plant is edible (its leaves are often used as a flavouring in salads, soups, dips, sauces, and fish) and is one of the oldest spices used in Europe, dating back to 4100 BCE in Germany and Denmark. It contains substantial amounts of vitamins A, C, E, and some B vitamins as well as potassium, calcium, magnesium, selenium, copper, iron, manganese, and omega-3 fatty acids. As with many non-native species, garlic mustard is invasive and is now one of Ontario’s most aggressive forest invaders as its seeds spread easily and can grow almost anywhere—in stable forests or in newly disturbed soil, in deep shade or full sunlight. All by way of saying, it is very abundant and can be harvested at will. Every summer we admire the beautiful, lush patch of garlic mustard that tumbles
The Ontario Woodlander—An Ontario Woodlot Association Quarterly. Issue 102, March 2021
